Edward Totino (left) and Perrie Weiner, Baker McKenzie (Courtesy photos)

Baker McKenzie, which returned to the Los Angeles market last year after a long absence, has brought on two longtime DLA Piper partners in LA, Perrie Weiner and Edward Totino.

Weiner will serve as the partner in charge of Baker McKenzie's Los Angeles office and chair of the firm's North America securities litigation group. Totino is joining as a partner in the same practice.

“Baker [McKenzie] is relatively new in the LA market—it has only been in LA for a little over a year,” said Weiner, a homegrown Los Angeles attorney, explaining that he was drawn to the opportunity to help the firm shape its presence in there.

“[The firm] is focused on growing the LA office and the West Coast in particular,” he said. “It was just a good opportunity to do all that it is I want to do at this stage of my career and to be able to help them move the needle in Los Angeles.”

Weiner and Totino both joined DLA Piper in 2002 from now-defunct Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison. While at DLA Piper, Weiner previously served as managing partner of the Century City office and co-chair of the securities litigation practice. He also was a member of DLA Piper's executive and policy committees.

“I have always worked with Perrie Weiner,” said Totino, who joined Brobeck in 1993. In addition to being friends and colleagues for more than 20 years, the two partners said they have also grown their practices as a team.

Perrie's practice focuses primarily on securities litigation and enforcement matters, as well as complex business litigation. He represents private equity funds, including hedge funds, broker-dealers, underwriters, placement agents and issuers in SEC and FINRA enforcement proceedings, and in white-collar criminal proceedings.

Some of his well-known clients, according to Weiner's biography on DLA Piper's website, include Charles Schwab & Co. Inc., Citibank N.A., eHarmony, E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp., Orient Paper Inc., The Los Angeles Lakers Inc., U.S. Bank, Visa Inc. and Yorkville Advisors LLC.

In addition to securities litigation, Totino also focuses his practice on consumer class actions and complex commercial litigation. Some of his clients include financial institutions, outsourcing companies, retailers and hotels. In recent years, Totino has defended a number of class actions brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the California Invasion of Privacy Act.

“This is a big win for our Los Angeles team and for the firm as a whole,” Colin Murray, Baker McKenzie's North American chief executive officer, said in a statement. “We are so excited to have securities litigators of this caliber join us.”

After leaving the Los Angeles market for a quarter-century, Baker McKenzie opened its Century City office last March, bringing on five lawyers from Hogan Lovells. According to Baker McKenzie, the office now has a total of 14 lawyers working in Los Angeles.

Weiner said much of the economic growth in LA in the last three to five years has been in the West, from Century City to the ocean. “I think it is important to be located on the west side, if you want to capture that growth,” he said, adding that he will continue to help Baker McKenzie develop practices that cater the companies growing there.

Legal recruiter Sabina Lippman of Lippman & Jungers helped to broker the duo's move to Baker McKenzie.

According to a spokesperson from DLA Piper, partners Jackie Park and Stuart Liner have been serving as co-managing partners of the firm's Los Angeles offices, including Century City and downtown, since January 2018. Park was co-managing partner with Weiner before that.

Meanwhile, partners John Clarke and Jim Mathias have been the co-chairs of the securities litigation practice since November 2014.

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